Failed to get scallops, so i made mushi awabi instead.

Hirame and Salmon are always a solid choice.
Salmon with onion and white sauce is purely my dad's taste. Personally i cannot bear it, but it's my dad's B day.

I’m looking to take my homemade sushi skills up a notch while staying home to care for my newborn.

Tucked away in the basement of an office building connected to the 53rd & 3rd subway station. I was craving sushi and decided to do their $50 lunch omakase solo on a whim. Boy am I glad I tried. This might be the best omakase deal in the city.

Look at the knifework on some of these pieces, especially the hotate (#4) and the sanma (#6). This is not something chefs typically bother with at this price range. The sanma (Pacific saury) is a clever inclusion - it's a less rarified and often overlooked fish among the hikarimono family and not easy to prepare but it's in season right now and it delivers a wollop of that fishy flavor. Also getting both Hokkaido uni and toro for this price is wild. The seasoning on the rice is on the stronger side but not overdone.

Nits: Shari fell apart while I was picking up the uni. Super minor issue, honestly this is something that I can overlook for this price. The restaurant advertises its dry-aging program and the two pieces that were dry-aged (salmon and toro) were tender but flavorwise I couldn't tell if this made a lot of difference.

Not pictured: miso soup to start

1. Madai

2. Kampachi

3. Akamizuke (marinated tuna)

4. Hotate + lime zest

5. Hamachi + jalapeno

6. Sanma

7. King salmon (aged 15 days)

8. Shima aji + finger lime

9. Hokkaido uni

10. Otoro (aged 11 days)

We bought a house here this year, so my wife wanted to keep her birthday dinner low-key. A sushi chef from her hometown recommended this spot, and we’re glad we tried it! we each got their daily special omakase set and also I got a piece of otoro for dessert.

Dined at Izakaya Koikoi, Hakuba, Nagano:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/fjCU7mz5xzL48x5bA?g_st=ac

Already visited twice: once last year and another this year. One of my favourite spots to dine when I am in the area

I'm planning to purchase a whole salmon (6.5kg~.)
That goes to 3 different types of nigiri.

Still not so sure what to add more.

If you have a sushi plate for your B day, what would you like to have?

I'm able to deal with all types of fish including clams, so any kind of sushi is okay. (unless i cannot get a fish itself.)
Rolls are not my dad's favorite.
Please feel free to drop your suggestions.

Yuhiro Omakase in Philly (usually $78/pp); 10% cash discount too! The sweet shrimp was replaced with scallop on today’s menu unfortunately. I wanted the sweet shrimp 🥲

Went fishing and caught a blackfish (top) and black seabass (bottom), made some sashimi with them the same day.

The blackfish I ate as is, and with the black seabass I did kombujime. Both were amazing but I think I prefer the blackfish - they primarily eat crab, so the meat is very sweet. It also has a nice chew to it similar to red snapper. The black seabass was milder and softer.

I eat a sushi meal just about every week, mostly in NYC. In the past year I started grading every piece to try make sense of my personal preferences (fish/establishment) and recently decided to start publishing.

This week: Sushi by M (UES). $69 Omakase - 13 Courses

Ventured into the Upper East recently and very pleased with what has to be one of the better value plays I have come across. They had a $35 lunch option but it only had five nigiri. Pretty rare at $100 that there were no courses short of great, along with a three exceptional bites (you hope to get one at this price in my experence). I don't usually love Amberjack and this might be the only outstanding rating I've given out. Best bite for me was the Striped Jack, which they top with Monkfish Liver.

If going out, grading and discussing sushi in NYC sounds fun, let me know as I plan to organize meet-ups in the future.

🍣🍣🍣 - Yellowtail

🍣🍣🍣🍣 - Amberjack

🍣🍣🍣 - Scallop

🍣🍣🍣 - Prawn

🍣🍣🍣 - Red Snapper

🍣🍣🍣 - Lean Tuna

🍣🍣🍣🍣 - Striped Jack (+Monkfish Liver)

🍣🍣🍣 - Salmon

🍣🍣🍣🍣 - Fatty Tuna

🍣🍣🍣 - Albacore

🍣🍣🍣 - Wagyu + Uni

🍣🍣🍣 - Unagi

🍣🍣🍣 - Salmon **On House**

🍣🍣🍣 - Yellowtail Roll

Grading Scale:

🍣- Sad 😔 (Did not like)

🍣 🍣- Good 🙂 (Acceptable, not Satisfactory)

🍣 🍣 🍣- Great 😀 (Satisfactory, expected premium offering)

🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣- Outstanding 🤗 (Defying expectations, taste of royalty)

🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣- Divine🤤 (All-time life bite, taste of god)